The Rose Ensemble, an internationally respected early music chorus with a home base in Saint Paul, will return to the Early Music Now series for the fourth time Saturday and Sunday at St. Joseph Chapel. The concert, “A Rose in Winter: A Garden of Medieval and Renaissance Music for the Nativity,” includes carefully curated selections primarily from the 15th and 16th century. The works celebrate the ancient legend that describes a mid-winter midnight blooming of nature in honor of the Madonna and Child.

The ensemble of 11 singers is accompanied by recorder, harp, vielle, psaltery, hurdy-gurdy, and percussion. The period instruments offer light accompaniment to an otherwise a cappella group. These Milwaukee performances will feature English ballads, Spanish cantigas, and German carols, including music of Hildegarde von Bingen, Michael Praetorius, John Dunstable, John Mouton, Giovanni Palestrina, and Anonymous. The program for the concert explains its focus on the Rose:

“The rose, an ancient symbol of the Virgin, Mary and the Christ child, inspires this program of Medieval and Renaissance music for the Christmas season. During a time of year when the thirst for happiness can bring stress and even sorrow, this joyful program celebrates the blossoming of new life during the coldest of days. Amidst familiar stories of wise men and shepherds, ancient Christmas legends also describe a midnight blooming of all manner of plants, trees, and flowers.”

Appropriately, the symbol of the rose served as the inspiration for the ensemble’s name when it was founded in 1996.

Also featured on the program is a commissioned work by Victor Zupanc, who has written several pieces for the Rose Ensemble. Zupanc has composed many concert pieces for various choirs, orchestras and chamber groups. But much of his work has been composition for theater – as a part of nearly 300 plays. This world premiere performance of “A Brighter Ray” can be expected to fit the ambience of the early music that precedes it.

The Rose Ensemble offers a six minute audio preview of this concert from a recent recording session on Vermont Public Radio. It seems likely that this new themed concert will become the next of a series of ten recordings the group has issued.

The ambience of St. Joseph’s Chapel fits the program and the small ensemble. One of the most beautiful worship spaces in Milwaukee, the Italian Romanesque Revival chapel offers an intimate and acoustically elegant experience.

This pair of Milwaukee performances will take place at St. Joseph Chapel, 1501 South Layton Boulevard (South 27th Street), on December 10 (Saturday) at 5:00 p.m., and December 11 (Sunday) at 3:00 p.m.. The complete program, including texts and translations and contextual notes, is available at EarlyMusicNow.org

Tickets may be ordered online at EarlyMusicNow.org. Tickets may also be ordered by phone at 414-225-3113, or by mail at Early Music Now, 759 N. Milwaukee St. #420, Milwaukee 53202. Individual adult/senior tickets for Tier 2 and Tier 3 seating range in price from $29 to $46 dollars, with student tickets ranging from $10 to $15.

The Bel Canto Chorus will offer its annual Christmas Season concert at Saint Josaphat’s Basilica on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Stained Glass Brass and organist Kevin Bailey will join the Bel Canto in the program. Familiar carols, soaring hymns, and music are all a part of this festive concert for all ages.

This concert has become a Christmas tradition. A 2012 performance taped by MPTV in 2012 is available to watch on YouTube. But the video concert hardly replaces the immersive experience of a great chorus in a grand space. With a chorus of about 100 voices, the sound fills the hall. The highly resonant acoustics enhance the glorious Christmas music – an ideal setting for chorus, organ and brass.

Christian Ellenwood. Photo from Ellenwood’s website.

The concert will feature the world premiere of a work by Christian Ellenwood. A local composer and clarinetist, Ellenwood has composed a substantial body of work. His website offers a pleasant introduction to his compositions. Each page incorporates samples of his music. The music has a pleasant, deeply romantic aura.

His new work, Love Came Down at Christmas, selects texts from English poet Christina Rossetti. Ellenwood observes that “Her poems express the complexities, contradictions, and simultaneous dualities that accompany almost every moment of life and living. She juxtaposes darkness and light, chillness and warmth, mundanity and transcendence, wonder and danger—and shows us that these things are not opposites; they are unities within the multiple dimensions of human experience.”

Music Director Richard Hynson reflects on Ellenwood’s composition. “He has found true connection with the poetry of Christina Rossetti in this remarkable, three-movement setting for soprano solo, mixed chorus, brass, timpani, and organ. Like Rossetti, Ellenwood is a true romantic. His music amplifies Rossetti’s lyric use of language. He sets three of her Christmas poems’ tender, transcendent sentiments with his own hauntingly elegiac melodies.”

You can hear the Bel Canto concert three times: Friday, December 9 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, December 10 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, December 11 at 3:30 p.m. Saint Josaphat’s Basilica is located at 601 W. Lincoln Ave., Milwaukee 53215. Tickets range from $29 to $60.50 with senior discounts and substantial discounts for students. They may be purchased online, in person at 158 N. Broadway, Floor 3 and by phone at 414-481-8801, extension 1. Bel Canto’s website offers a detailed map of nearby free parking.

Although a nonprofit, the Summerfest parent generates considerable profits which its board of directors has routinely dedicated to capital improvements. Every few years a major program is announced for the 75-acre lakefront entertainment facility that draws over 1.4 million visitors per year.

Summerfest President/ Chief Executive Officer Don Smiley has said “If you’re not going forward, you are absolutely going backward,” making it very hard to stay competitive in a global music marketplace.

Today, following the annual meeting of the board, it was announced that a 10-year partnership deal had been reached with sponsor U.S. Cellular that would call for the demolition of the existing U. S. Cellular Connection Stage, and replacing it with a larger facility. Smiley said the amount was confidential, “but is in the millions.”

The existing stage, last upgraded in 1996, will be torn down immediately after the 2017 season and will be ready for the 2018 season.

Smiley said he had received an imperative from the board to work on the north end of the property. He said the project there would be integrated with the Lakefront Gateway, Milwaukee’s new “front door” which is expected to be completed around the same time. In a reversal, the audience will face the lake and the city, a view once reserved for the bands.

N. Harbor Dr., which fronts Summerfest, has already been relocated, and space has been cleared for the expansion of the grounds due to freeway reconstruction nearby. Bulldozers are working on the site at this time, reconfiguring the Miller Lite stage. The former downtown transit center is now in the process of being demolished and replaced with The Couture building. Much other work is underway in the vicinity. The Italian Community Center, to the west, is considering an offer to purchase part of the southern portion of its property.

Demolition of the Downtown Transit Center

Grounds Require Continual Investment

As its name implies, Milwaukee World Festivals has a global focus reflected in the numerous ethnic festivals held there annually in addition to the Big Gig.

“Our mission is to promote an understanding of different ethnic cultures, the histories and traditions of various nationalities, harmony in the community, civic pride and provide a showcase for performing arts, activities and recreation for the public and employment opportunities for the youth of the community,” according to the organization.

Summerfest also faces global competition for travelling acts during the summer festival season in the northern hemisphere. “The competition is really global in nature for these bands,” Smiley said.

So, if you want to lure Mick Jagger or Paul McCartney to Milwaukee in July, as Summerfest did respectively in 2015 and 2016, it is best to see that your profits have been regularly invested in your facility. Things get old real fast otherwise, and there are other markets far larger than Milwaukee that would be willing to host the world’s top acts. But we keep getting them, in part due to the facilities and management.

In the case of the U.S. Cellular Connection facility at Summerfest, a completely rebuilt stage for the performers, with a 25 foot LED video screen behind them, should be a draw for booking agents. “A larger performance area, enhanced production capabilities and improved artist amenities” is also planned.

Smiley said he has noticed a trend for bands to travel with larger-scale productions than in the past, and he does not want to miss out on a hot act because his stage could not accommodate the band due to space constraints, or because they’re so crowded back stage that they’re ready to kill each other.

Taking a cue from Broadway’s stage doors, Smiley, and the architects from Eppstein Uhen also have come up with “an open-air backstage loft area that will be used for artist meet and greets and interviews, as well as exclusive hospitality experiences with up front viewing of the stage for customers and contest winners.” In short, a V.I.P. area and probably a good place for acts to hawk recordings and related ephemera.

The capacity at the stage will be ramped up to about 9,000, Smiley said, with new bar and service areas for the patrons who will also enjoy a “stunning backdrop of the Milwaukee skyline and the lakefront.”

Renderings

Rewired Grounds

Milwaukee World Festivals and U.S. Cellular signed their first agreement in 2005, when cell phones were not nearly as ubiquitous as they are today, and were limited mostly to voice calls.

The new agreement calls for “mobile device charging amenities around the stage area, including benches with charging ports along the lakefront.” Furthermore, U.S. Cellular will continue to upgrade the facilities of Summerfest as its official wireless comunications provider. The company, the fifth-largest full-service wireless carrier in the United States, has already brought text and picture-to-screen technology at the stage, has added free charging stations throughout the grounds, boosted cellular service and added a virtual reality component.

Attendees at the press conference, held at the Summerfest headquarters, were invited to tour the new stage via a 360 degree virtual reality headset.

Jay Ellison, the executive vice president of operations at U.S. Cellular, said “we look forward to improving the guest experience by introducing the latest wireless technology, new guest amenities and an improved sound experience come 2018.”

The Summerfest grounds is owned by the City of Milwaukee Board of Harbor Commissioners, which must approve all capital projects there. The current lease runs until 2030, Smiley said.

Milwaukee World Festival is Big Business

According to its 2014 federal tax statement, IRS Form 990, Milwaukee World Festival took in $33 million in program revenue, has assets of $78 million and liabilities of $58 million, leaving it with unrestricted net assets of $20 million. Smiley, the President and CEO, was paid $364,313 that year, the most recent for which information is available.

BMO Harris Bank will build a new 25-floor, 360,000 square-foot office tower on E. Wells St. to be known as the BMO Harris Financial Center at Market Square and announced more details about the project today. The firm will move its operations there, as part of a complex deal explained this morning. Joining the firm in the new tower will be the bank’s Wisconsin law firm Michael Best & Friedrich. Best will lease 59,000 square-feet spread over the building’s top floors.

The new building, to be completed in 2019, will be developed and owned by Irgens Development Partners. BMO Harris will lease 123,000 square-feet in the new building, including first-floor space for a flagship retail bank. The Market Square name is a throwback, a historic reference to the formerly three-way intersection of E. Wells St., N. Market St. and N. Water St. when it was a hub of commerce in the city.

Irgens was selected for the project after beating out “five to six other developers” according to firm CEO Mark Irgens. Irgens noted that he first learned of the project this past spring, and his firm was able to assemble a bid with a lot of appealing aspects to BMO. One, the new tower will be built on the site of BMO’s current parking garage, eliminating the need for any land acquisition and keeping BMO in “the civic and cultural heart of the city.” Two, Irgens will purchase and renovate BMO’s current building at 770 N. Water St., eliminating the need for BMO to deal with their long-time home.

These moves had others involved in the deal singing the praises of Irgens. BMO president and CEO David Casper described Mark Irgens as a “good friend, good customer and great developer” during his remarks while he reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to his native Milwaukee. Department of City Development Commissioner Rocky Marcoux, representing Mayor Tom Barrett, who was unable to attend while recovering from hip surgery, noted that “Mark Irgens is a true gentleman.” Marcoux had reason to be effusive in his praise, given that earlier in the program Irgens noted “we are not going to be looking for any sort of government financing for this project.”

Marcoux also praised Irgens’ voluntary compliance with emerging business enterprise hiring goals, something the developer also did on the 833 East office tower in partnership with Prism Technical Management & Marketing Services. Speaking to a room of almost exclusively white people in a city that is majority minority, Marcoux noted that Irgens’ commitment means that “when people come downtown from this city, they can see people that look like them.” Marcoux went on to challenge other developers to follow Irgens’ example in hiring minority city residents for their projects. This issue is likely to get additional attention as developers have increasingly failed to meet their mandated hiring targets.

Updated Renderings

Kahler Slater provided us with updated renderings shortly after the article was published.

Renderings

About the Tenants

BMO Harris Bank, founded in 1882 as N.W. Harris & Co., is today a subsidiary of the Toronto, Canada based Bank of Montreal (BMO). BMO Harris has maintained its Chicago headquarters following its 1984 acquisition and operates approximately 600 locations across Illinois, Indiana, Arizona, Missouri, Minnesota, Kansas, Florida, and Wisconsin. Owing in large part to the company’s purchase of M&I Bank in 2010 and the company’s market dominance in this state, over 200 of the BMO Harris locations are in Wisconsin. By consolidated banking assets, it ranks as the 25th largest bank in the United States.

Michael Best & Friedrich currently occupies the top floors of the 33-story 100 East building located a few blocks south at the intersection of N. Water. St. and E. Wisconsin Ave. The firm will vacate that space entirely, relocating 235 employees to the new building. Managing partner David KrutztoldSean Ryan that “we want an office environment that has less emphasis on partner-sized offices, and more emphasis on bringing light in.” The firm sent out a request for proposals for new space this spring according to managing partner Danielle Bergner.

Why not stay in 100 East and remodel? Bergner noted that “renovating the space we are in right now would have been a Herculean task.” Who will move to the top of 100 East in their absence? That’s unclear. Marcus Corp. has their corporate headquarters currently in the building. The building’s owners may be wise to make one call to the building’s other prominent law firm, Gruber Law Offices.

New Tower Details

The new tower is planned to top 335 feet, roughly 50 feet taller than its current building. When finished it would be the 12th tallest building in the city. It is being built on the site of the current BMO Harris Bank Building parking garage, which stands along E. Wells St. between N. Water St. and N. Broadway across from Milwaukee City Hall. Efficiency improvements in parking garage design will allow a new 590-stall garage to occupy a smaller footprint to make way for the new building.

The tower is being designed by Milwaukee-firm Kahler Slater. Irgens touted the design of the tower during the press conference, noting the glass facade will reflect the image of Milwaukee’s City Hall. Designs for the new tower show active uses wrapping the entire development, a welcome improvement over the blank walls presented by the current parking garage.

The new tower will feature a number of amenities, including a shared multi-media conference center, common tenant lounge and terrace on the 11th floor and tenant fitness center. The standard floor plate in the building is 25,000 square-feet, with nine-foot, six-inch ceilings. Floor-to-ceiling windows and column-free corners are included on every floor. A fact sheet for the building promotes its location adjacent to a stop on the Milwaukee Streetcar line, as well as its easy walking and biking distance to the Historic Third Ward and East Side. City Hall, the Milwaukee RiverWalk, Pabst Theater, Milwaukee Rep and Red Arrow Park are also promoted on the fact sheet. Irgens will need those items to be a strong selling point, as approximately 178,000 square-feet in the proposed building is available for lease. Colliers International is handling leasing for the project.

The new tower will allow BMO to consolidate their offices in one building. The firm currently occupies almost all of its current building with roughly 700 employees, as well as leasing space in the nearby Milwaukee Center for approximately 200 additional employees. Both groups will move to the new building.

Demolition work on the existing parking garage is expected to start in the fall of 2017, with construction of the new tower to follow immediately. BMO employees will be accommodated in a number of nearby parking garages, as well as a bank-owned surface parking located on N. Broadway just behind its current tower. Bank customers will be accommodated with relaxed city parking regulations on N. Water St.

What About The Old Building?

Irgens will acquire and renovate BMO’s existing building as part of the deal. The current BMO Harris Bank Building stands at 277 feet tall, currently the city’s 17th tallest building. The tower was originally built as the headquarters for Marshall & Ilsley Bank in 1968, the largest Wisconsin-based bank before BMO Harris acquired it. Standing at 21-stories, the building contains 280,511 square-feet of space according to city records. What’s Irgens going to do with that space?

The firm has engaged Kahler Slater to lead the design of the renovation. Mark Irgens noted that the building is in good shape, but the floor plates aren’t conducive to modern office needs. The developer appears to exploring just about every use possible at the moment, ranging from engaging consultants on potential multi-family residential uses to hospitality tenants. Part of the building is intended to be upgraded to Class A office space.

Irgens did state at the press conference that a small building that now connects the parking garage to the office tower would be renovated as part of the development. That building will house a restaurant, dry cleaner and a few other possible commercial uses. It would serve as a first-floor connection between the two towers.

Marcoux said in an interview following the press conference that the city has not had any conversations with Irgens about potential city support for rehabbing the existing building. Work on this project will not start until 2020 at the earliest, as Irgens is awaiting for BMO to move into the new building.

Irgens Wins at Dominoes

Irgens, who will acquire the bank’s current building, set the dominoes in motion for this complex deal years ago. In 2011 law firm Godfrey & Kahn considered a potential move as their lease was set to expire in the BMO Harris Bank Building, a building that the firm had called home since 1969. A partnership of Irgens and Van Buren Management sold the firm on a space in their 22-story Washington Square Tower proposal, to be built on E. Mason St. between N. Jefferson and N. Jackson streets. That project ultimately didn’t come together for lack of other tenants, but it wasn’t the end for Irgens and the law firm.

In June 2014, Irgens held a groundbreaking for their 18-story 833 East office building on E. Michigan St. Anchoring the project was to be Godfrey & Kahn, which would lease a 78,000 square-foot space spread over the top three floors. Among a litany of Class A amenities offered by the new high-end building (steakhouse, heated parking, etc, etc), it is located near the lakefront and has a much more efficient floor plan. The firm moved in March of this year and just six months later Irgens is announcing the acquisition of their former building.

Learn more about the 833 East building, Irgens and Godfrey & Kahn’s new space in my February story.

To get a picture of just how low Democrats have sunk in Wisconsin, you might start with the Republican margin in the Wisconsin Assembly, where they now have 64 members compared to 35 Democrats. The media has noted this is the biggest margin for Republicans since they had 67 representatives in 1957, but that’s actually far worse than it sounds, because the Democratic Party barely existed back then. During the entire first half of the 20th century the battle was mostly between stalwart Republicans and Progressives, with the Democrats almost like a third party. So for Democrats to sink to the level of the 1950s is to hit the very bottom, when the party was beginning to be reborn.

Republicans have all the marbles, including a 20-13 margin in the Senate, the positions of governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and treasurer, and a 5-2 conservative majority in the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Democrat Doug La Follette still serves as Secretary of State, but the position is meaningless, as the office was stripped of all power and most of its funding years ago.

The only official of any power in state government not thinking conservative Republican thoughts is Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers. Yes, the position is non-partisan, but Evers is sympathetic to teachers unions and willing to oppose the administration of Gov. Scott Walker on key education issues.

Evers is up for reelection this spring and you can expect Republicans to go all out to defeat him. “Now’s the time to continue to get what they can,” Republican lobbyist Brandon Scholzcrowed to the Wisconsin State Journal.

For decades, the state teachers’ union, WEAC, had great success getting their candidate elected superintendent. But the end of collective bargaining has left the union greatly diminished, with far less ability to fund elections and marshall supporters.

And you can expect dark money from voucher supporters to come pouring into Wisconsin to take out Evers. “I do believe there is likely to be some national money in this race,” said Dodgeville School District administratorJohn Humphries, who is running against Evers. “School-choice advocates are going to be a very important player,” he told the paper.

Humphries and former Beloit School District superintendent Lowell Holtz are eyed as the candidates who support school vouchers, American Federation for Children’s Wisconsin lobbyist Justin Moralez told the State Journal. The federation spent heavily on the November legislative races and will undoubtedly do the same for this election.

And the challengers, aping Trump, “can paint Evers as the establishment who has done nothing,” as Scholz declared. Evers, in short, could face a very tough election.

Meanwhile, you might think Walker is vulnerable in 2018. The most recent Marquette University Law School Poll showed his approval rating at just 42 percent, and his rating has been slumping (in the high 30s to mid-40s) since his reelection in 2014. But recall that Sen. Ron Johnson’s approval rating was even worse and after way outspending Democrat Russ Feingold in the final months of the election, Johnson still won.

The reality is the Democratic Party has a very weak bench. They have been so decimated in the legislature that the talent pipeline has shrunk. And while the gerrymandering that helped create this situation has been ruled unconstitutional by a federal court, the chances that the U.S. Supreme Court (with a new Trump appointee) will uphold the decision don’t look great.

Next to be targeted by Republicans will be Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin. She was elected in 2012, a presidential year, but will be running for reelection in 2018, a mid-term election when the Democratic turnout (particularly of minority and college student voters) is always lower. The Hill picked Baldwin as one of 10 Senate seats that could flip in 2018.

Two possible opponents are Northern Wisconsin CongressmanSean Duffy, a rising star in the party (who recently declared that Madison is a “Communist” city and then laughed about this with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson). Another possible challenger would be Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, whom GOP operative Chris Rochestersalutes as “incredibly likable, genuine, sharp, and steeped for years in the issues at the forefront of Wisconsin voters.” A rather different take on her was offered here.

Republicans seem to expect so many possible opponents to Baldwin that a GOP primary is likely. Yep, everything’s coming up roses for the party these days. It remains to be seen if the moribund Democrats have any kind of strategy to turn around the party.

Low-wage workers who are required to work long hours deserve the protection of federal overtime laws. Unfortunately, a long-awaited federal rule change that would have extended overtime benefits to almost one fourth of salaried Wisconsin workers has been blocked and its fate is now in the hands of the incoming Trump administration.

The new overtime rule approved by the Labor Department was scheduled to take effect on December 1, but a November 22 ruling by a district court judge in Texas put the rule in limbo. The judge’s injunction might enable the new president to kill the rule simply by not appealing that decision, rather than going through the lengthy rulemaking process that would otherwise be required to reverse or change the new rule.

The judge’s ruling maintains the current policy that says employers don’t have to pay overtime to salaried workers earning more than $23,660 per year ($455 per week) if they are classified in any of these three categories: executives, administrators, or professionals. For a family of four, that salary is $640 less than the current federal poverty level.

“For example, an assistant manager at a fast-food restaurant with a salary of $24,000 and who spends 95% of his or her time cooking fries, running a cash register, and sweeping floors can be required to work 60 or 70 hours a week and yet be denied any overtime pay, simple because he’s classified as a manager. On the weeks he works more than 64 hours, his effective hourly wage is below the federal minimum wage of $7.25; workers who are exempt from overtime regulations are also exempt from minimum-wage regulations.”

The new rule that is now in limbo would have had the following effects:

It would raise the overtime threshold to $47,476 a year, which would cover an additional 12.5 million salaried workers, including about 187,000 in Wisconsin.

The increased threshold would cover 35% of full-time salaried workers, compared to just 7% now, but that would still be well below the 60% covered by the threshold back in 1975.

The share of Wisconsin’s salaried workforce covered under the new threshold would increase to 27.1%, compared to just 5.5% now.

The district court judge in Texas who blocked the rule said in his ruling that the Labor Department lacks the authority to set a salary threshold below which workers must be covered by overtime. As Jared Bernstein explains in a recent blog post (The injunction against the overtime rule makes zero sense), the judge’s reasoning is very perplexing because the income threshold has been a key component of overtime law for more than 70 years. Reasonable people can disagree about whether the new threshold should be set at a level that covers 35% of salaried workers, but it’s alarming that a judge would question the appropriateness of having such a threshold.

In light of the support that the President-elect received from working class voters, many of whom would probably benefit from the overtime rule change, it will be very interesting to see if the Trump administration appeals the judge’s decision and backs up his claims of being a champion for workers. Many people seem to think he won’t appeal, and would prefer to let the policy change die a quiet death. If they are right, the incoming president will miss an excellent opportunity to demonstrate that he merits the support of low-wage workers.

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